Aural

$10 USB headset

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Better than the built-in mic and headset for online calls

I interview a lot of people for various podcasts. Most of the time, I interview them using Skype, recording the conversation with a Skype add-on utility called Call Recorder. Some of my podcast guests, such as John Hodgman, are seasoned podcasters themselves and have better equipment and recording studios than I have. But other guests have never been on a podcast before. They don’t have a USB microphone, and they don’t even have a USB headset. Instead of having them use their computer’s built-in microphone and speakers, which would sound tinny, I order this $10 USB headset from Amazon and have it sent directly to them (I have an Amazon Prime which lets me send stuff with free shipping to anyone in the US). When Michael Goodwin, author of Economix, appeared on Gweek, he used this $10 headset. You can listen to it here. I think it sounds fine, apart from some minor plosives and sibilants. I tell my guests that they are welcome to keep the headset and use it the next time they are on a podcast, make a Skype call, or do a Google hangout.

Note: Here are my ongoing podcasts: Cool Tools Show, Incredibly Interesting Authors.

-- Mark Frauenfelder 01/14/16

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